1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system having a queuing system for managing a queue and heterogeneous data structures and, in particular, to a queuing system for managing generic queue headers attached to heterogeneous data structures using a library of queue action function calls.
2. Description of Related Art
Software developers currently create application specific queues and queue codes to manage data structures of a particular application. The application specific queues may be referred to by the software developers as scheduler queues, device queues and transaction queues to mention a few. Unfortunately, the queue code of the application specific queue is operable only for a narrow range of applications or tasks, and must be modified and re-tested to be reused in another application.
Currently, the queue code is application specific because queue link information is embedded and interlocked within each data structure of the particular application. The queue link information often includes a pointer to a next queue node and a pointer to a previous queue node. The embedding and interlocking of the queue link information into the data structure requires the software developer or user to manage not only the data structures but also the associated queue link information, which is a complicated undertaking.
Accordingly, there is a need for a queuing system and method for managing generic queue headers attached to heterogeneous data structures using a library of queue action function calls. There is also a need to provide a queuing system and method for enabling a user to manage the data structures of an application without an undue concern about the underlying management of the queue link information. These and other needs are addressed by the queuing system and method of the present invention.
The present invention is a computer system using a queuing system and method for managing a queue having a plurality of generic queue headers connected together by a plurality of links in a predetermined manner. Each generic queue header may be attached to one of a plurality of data structures. The queuing system also includes a library of queue action function calls for controlling the operations of each one of the plurality of generic queue headers.